India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI—Taking suo moto cognizance of the arrest of climate activist Disha Ravi from Bengaluru in “toolkit” case, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal has demanded a copy of the FIR registered in the matter, reasons for not producing the girl before a local magistrate for seeking transit remand and reasons for not providing her a lawyer of her choice while producing her before a court in Delhi.
Maliwal has asked the police to furnish this information by February 19, “considering the gravity of the matter”.
She has asked these details from Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cyber Cell, Delhi Police.
Quoting media reports, she said that Disha Ravi was arrested and taken to Delhi with no disclosure of her whereabouts, not to even her parents. Also, the police neither sought transit remand from a court in Bengaluru nor was Disha provided a lawyer while being produced in a court in Delhi that sent her to five days of police custody.
“This is a very serious matter”, Maliwal observed in her letter.
She said that the Delhi High Court in an order in 2019 had stated, “Endeavour should be made to obtain transit remand after producing the arrestee before the nearest Magistrate…unless exigencies of the situation warrant otherwise.
Referring to Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India, she said that every person arrested has a right to defended by a “legal practitioner of his choice”.
